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The Tale of the Demon Lord	By : Arianawray Category: InuYasha > Yaoi - Male/Male > InuYasha/Sessh?maru > InuYasha/Sessh?maru Views: 56279 -:- Recommendations : 4 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of its characters, and I do not make any money from these writings.

Chapter List
- 17
- 18
- 19
XVIII: Two Together
As the sun began to peep over the horizon the next morning, Sesshomaru met Inuyasha outside his bedroom and led him along the length of the royal wing, right up to its very end.
Inuyasha had lived in this wing for the first ten years of his life, and had spent the past nine days and nights in residence here. Yet, for various reasons, he had never taken those seemingly impossible steps towards the furthest end of the passageway. It felt now like an unknown world he had literally never set foot in, a mysterious new place to explore in this enormous castle.
Sesshomaru opened a heavily carved door, the last door in that wing, and the only one which looked down along the entire length of the corridor. Inuyasha had always known that this was the entrance to his father's room, but in his childhood, the guards had never let him approach this end of the passageway.
Since his return to the castle, although he knew that no one would have stopped him, he had felt reluctant to do what he had never been able to do before – put his hand on the knob and push the door open, as if some of the old emotional shackles that had bound him then continued to mark him. In fact, he had not opened the door of his mother's old room either, believing that the memories he would find there would overwhelm him.
"This was Father's room," said the demon lord, revealing to his brother a large space of robust yet tasteful teak-wood furniture and bold porcelain and metal art, bigger than Sesshomaru's bedroom, but not nearly as elegant or careful in its style and décor. Sesshomaru threw open the shutters to let in the morning light, but the air remained still and silent in the way that air is in rooms which no one lives in any more.
"Why didn't you move in after he died?" Inuyasha asked.
"I was too accustomed to thinking of this as his room," Sesshomaru said. "Although as the new demon lord I should have become its next occupant, I did not want to move in. Other than the soft furnishings having to be cleaned regularly and changed occasionally, I have left it more or less unaltered. I found your mother's hairpin in here. She had her own room, as you know, but they were a loving couple – she spent almost all her nights here when he was alive."
"I never saw Mama come in here, and I never entered either."
"I am sorry to say that I had the door kept locked and guarded at all times when you lived here before. Forgive me for that act of selfishness – I felt that your mother had already taken so much of Father's heart, I wanted to keep what I had left of his memories to myself."
Sesshomaru found that it was becoming less agonising for him to put his arrogance aside and apologise to Inuyasha for past and present wrongs as he went down this new path of discovering who his brother was as a person, and what he might be to him in the future.
"I guess it must have been hard for you too," Inuyasha said, his eyes gradually opening to the knowledge that Sesshomaru's own history had not necessarily been easy.
"That was no excuse. The swords are there on the wall before you – Tenseiga and Tetsusaiga. Father deliberately broke off one of his massive fangs when he was in his full dog form, and had his swordsmith friend, Totosai, who was also one of my godfathers, craft it into two blades. So the two swords, you see, were originally one great tooth. Father intended one of them for me, and the other for you."
"Really? I never knew that. Which one was meant for me?"
"Tetsusaiga. It is a most powerful and well-made sword, even if it may look to you like a thin and ragged blade."
"Have you used it before?" the prince asked his brother.
"I cannot touch it."
"What do you mean?"
"Father designed a spell that made it impossible for me, or anyone without human blood, to grasp the Tetsusaiga's hilt without getting hurt. He left me the Tenseiga."
"So the Tenseiga must be even more powerful than the Tetsusaiga?"
"Hardly. The Tenseiga was forged to be so blunt that it can only cut air and spirit."
"Why would Father leave you a sword that cannot cut?" Inuyasha asked in amazement, for his great demon brother surely deserved a mighty weapon from their father.
"I do not know. I resented you for that too – for having to hear it from Totosai and from Father's flea-demon follower Myoga, that before our sire left the castle to defend your mother and you from his enemies, he had told them his last wishes with respect to the swords – the Tenseiga was for me, and the Tetsusaiga for his unborn child, be it a son or a daughter. Totosai and Myoga were the ones who recovered the swords from the field of battle after your mother returned to the castle with you in her arms. They brought Father's body back to the castle, and we gave him a fire burial, as was fitting for a great demon lord and warrior. Totosai left the swords in my care. It enraged me that I could not grasp the Tetsusaiga, and I found the Tenseiga useless. So I had them both mounted on the wall in Father's room. I have not touched them since."
"What's that sword you sometimes carry around with you, then?" Inuyasha asked curiously.
"Tokijin, forged under my orders by the swordsmith Kaijinbo, Totosai's enemy and rival. I sought him out at a time when our land was still at peace, knowing that he would do what Totosai refused to do for me. But not long after that, he joined our enemies and turned against Father and me. He even came to the castle for Tokijin in the midst of the battle, believing it would heed his commands because he was its maker. The sword did listen to him – for a mere moment – until he proved too weak to wield it, and it destroyed him on the spot, then permitted me to reclaim it. It is certainly powerful, for it was made from the teeth of a demon that I heard had once snapped the Tetsusaiga with a bite. Father had to re-forge Tetsusaiga after that, but it apparently became stronger following the break."
Inuyasha looked up at his brother with his startlingly wide eyes, in which ever-more new knowledge was dawning. "All that made you sad, didn't it?" he asked in wonder, surprised to discover that Sesshomaru could feel such emotion.
Sesshomaru was silent and thoughtful, not quite knowing how to answer his brother honestly without sounding as if he was indulging in self-pity.
The silence said all he needed to say, for Inuyasha understood it. The half-demon then spoke these heartfelt words: "I wish nothing of the sort had ever happened in those days to make you sad. I wish Father had left you the sword you wanted."
His naturally affectionate nature had never been entirely suppressed by living so many years alone, and it made him want to move closer to his older brother, perhaps even hug him, now that he had a glimpse of what the demon lord had been through as a prince; but physical touch had become such a sensitive matter between them that he dared not make contact, lest Sesshomaru misunderstand.
"It is all in the past, and what is past cannot be changed, but perhaps it can be built upon in a better way," his brother told him. "None of it was your fault, although when I was younger, I liked to tell myself that it was all because of you. That was only a sorry excuse to neglect you and shield myself from hurt. Father was fond of games in his own way. Many of his games were painful to play through, but they always proved to have a point by the end. Perhaps we shall learn in time what game he is making us endure so long after his death."
Sesshomaru reached up and grasped the scabbards of both swords, one in each hand, removing them from their parallel mounts.
"These are the scabbards I told you about, which came from the branches Bokusen'o gave to Father. They are quite powerful in their own right, and closely connected to the blades – I saw the Tetsusaiga's scabbard call the blade to fly over to it once, in a battle when Father dropped the sword. Here. You may take what is yours."
Inuyasha received the Tetsusaiga, one hand closing over the scabbard and the other over the hilt.
"What you have just done so easily, I cannot do – hold the hilt, I mean – without getting my hands badly burnt. My two godfathers told me that Father had this blade created especially to defend your mother, so it is said that it may be wielded only by those with human blood, or by those who wish to defend humans. But then it was specifically meant also to be left to you, his second child, so I believe you ought to be able to wield it in any situation."
"There are so many things I don't know, that I don't understand," Inuyasha said, staring at the sword in his hands.
"That makes two of us. Perhaps we shall find out together. I've told Jaken that your lessons this morning will be conducted by me. So let's try out that blade of yours. Tenseiga may be able to cut nothing significant, but it is decent enough as a defensive blade, and is good for sparring."
"I've only ever used staffs, sticks, slings and stuff like that. I don't know how to use a sword," Inuyasha admitted reluctantly.
"Then you will learn."
They went outdoors to the open field before the royal wing, and Inuyasha drew the Tetsusaiga. To his amazement, the thin little blade that emerged from the scabbard flared into a mighty sword, broad and powerful, pulsing in his hands.
"It's magic – I think it's alive…" Inuyasha remarked in wonder as he felt what seemed like the sword's heartbeat.
"See that fur at the base of the blade? That was some of Father's fur. I don't know how old Totosai contrived to make it show up when the blade flares, but somehow it does," Sesshomaru explained. "When Father wielded the Tetsusaiga, it was a mighty thing – bigger by far than what you have in your hands now. As your strength grows, the blade will also grow in size when you use it."
"I'm not sure that I know how to use it," the half-demon prince said, tensing his knuckles over the hilt.
"It is best to start by learning how to hold your sword in one hand, not gripped in two hands like a garden hoe."
"It's so heavy, if I hold it in one hand, won't it unbalance me once I move?"
"You are strong enough to wield it as it should be wielded," Sesshomaru said, a firm note of encouragement in his voice.
The half-demon transferred his grip on the sword to his right hand alone, and leaned back to keep from being tipped over by the massive blade.
"It is usual to start training with a wooden sword, or a light, blunt blade – but you have our father's blood, and I do not doubt that you have the ability to master this sword. Once you have this first session under your belt, I will let you use a lighter sword purely for training. But for now, get to know your father's fang." Sesshomaru then stepped up to him, and asked: "May I?"
At Inuyasha's nod, he took the scabbard from his other hand and slipped it into his sash, securing it with a thin tie. Then he went around and stood very close behind Inuyasha before closing his right hand over his brother's sword hand. After rather formally asking his permission again, he wrapped his other arm about Inuyasha's waist.
It felt strange, and an involuntary tingle ran through Inuyasha's body. Before the night of the demon-bird attack, Sesshomaru had touched him only in a sexual way, and it was odd to have him holding him so close now, not to violate him in any way, but to teach him how to move with the sword that now belonged to him.
"This will be a little easier in the air," Sesshomaru said beside Inuyasha's right ear, whose soft-furred flap twitched and tingled to hear his deep voice so close. "You may put your feet on mine."
Inuyasha cautiously stepped backwards to place his heels on top of Sesshomaru's boots, feeling more than ever like a little child who was still small enough to stand on his father's feet in order to accomplish things that he could never do on his own. Within moments, the demon lord was floating above the ground, moving Inuyasha's right arm in a simple but fluid series of movements, while his feet, legs and upper body gave the boy a sense of where his weight should be with each swing of the blade, as if they were engaged in an unusual and exhilarating dance.
"Moving the blade smoothly like this is safe enough for now, as you learn how to handle the sword and understand its dimensions," the demon lord spoke again into his ear. "But when you have mastered the blade's destructive techniques, you will have to be careful where you aim it when you take a big swing, because it could possibly tear down an entire castle wing, along with everyone in it."
Inuyasha's eyes widened as his respect for the blade in his hand grew. He could feel Sesshomaru's powerful muscles against his back, moving under the fabric of his robe, and the caress of the demon lord's hair flowing forward around them to merge with his hair like streams of silver. Those firm, strong fingers covered his own, their grip sure and steady without being too restrictive. In all, it was an intimate hold, but if Sesshomaru was aroused by their proximity, he exhibited no sign of it. If only things had been this way right from the start, Inuyasha thought…
They returned to ground, and the elder brother released the younger.
"Now do it on your own," the demon lord said. Inuyasha eagerly went through the motions while Sesshomaru walked around him and guided him through his first training session, reminding and prompting him as he went along: "Move your entire body as one with the sword, not just your arm. Even when you are in a position where you cannot move your body but only your wrist or your arm, remember to keep the strength flowing from those muscles that are remaining still into those that are in motion. Keep your weight balanced without leaning too far in any one direction – find your centre – keep a sense of that centre always. If you are pushed off balance, bear in mind that instinctively righting yourself may be just the trap your opponent is waiting for you to fall into. There are always different ways of recovering your balance – learn them, learn where your centre is in a variety of positions, and how to get back to it. Also make it a point to discover how you may counterattack from a defensive position, or do damage to your opponent even when you are thrown off balance and are attempting to get back onto your feet, especially if he comes in for the kill then."
Every now and then, Sesshomaru would glide over and correct a turn of the boy's body, the positioning of his shoulder, or the placement of his feet. Sometimes, he nudged Inuyasha off-balance to see how he would respond, and tested how he would move if he came at him with his Tenseiga.
"Good," said Sesshomaru, stepping back and sheathing the Tenseiga after an hour more of such training. "Your movements are still unrefined and far too bold for one just starting to work with a sword. But you are nimble and strong and know instinctively how to handle a weapon, even one as heavy as this. We shall stop here for now, and continue tomorrow."
"I'm not tired at all!" Inuyasha insisted. "I can carry on!"
"You may not be tired, but you must give your mind and muscles time to process what new things they have learnt, and to refresh themselves. As we go along in the days and months to come, your training will get longer and more difficult, and by that time, you will be asking me when we can stop."
He knew he was presuming that Inuyasha would voluntarily remain here long enough for them to have days and months of training to look forward to. But to think otherwise felt surprisingly painful to him at this time, and the boy had not asked to leave – yet. He was treading a very fine line whose path he could not see, sensing it only vaguely with his feet and heart, yet knowing that if he strayed from it in any way, Inuyasha would either be frightened off, or resume hating him.
"I've never asked anyone to stop something just because it was hard work for me!" Inuyasha declared, oblivious to the multi-layered considerations troubling his brother's mind. He sheathed his Tetsusaiga and caught up with Sesshomaru, who had indicated with a movement of his head and one hand that they should proceed to another part of the castle grounds.
"I do not doubt that," the demon lord said, with a gentle smile. He reached out to tuck a stray lock of Inuyasha's hair back into place, and Inuyasha let him do so without pulling away or flinching. In their first days together, Sesshomaru would have regarded this as an invitation to continue; but he did not wish to abuse the fragile trust his brother was only just starting to place in him, so he drew his hand back once the hair was in place, and did not offer to touch him again.
Sesshomaru led him towards the patch of forest, and they strolled through it until they stood before Bokusen'o.
"Here are the scabbards you gave to these swords, Ancient One," Sesshomaru said to the tree. "My brother has his blade, as my father wished him to."
Inuyasha jumped about three feet into the air when Bokusen'o did not speak in those silent words he had used with him before, but replied with actual, vocal words even as a face magically appeared in the bark of the trunk right before his eyes.
"So you have come to your senses at last, have you, Sesshomaru?" the mouth in the face in the tree said, as a pair of wise old eyes gazed upon the two brothers.
Sesshomaru bowed and answered: "Yes, Godfather. Thank you for honouring me with your conversation once more."
"Godfather?" Inuyasha questioned.
"Little prince," Bokusen'o said, turning his eyes full on him. "I was one of your brother's two godfathers, and I came ever so close to disowning him. But I have chosen to remain his godfather although it has been many years since I last spoke to him. Now, I am yours also. It was what your father wished, before he died."
"You're my godfather too?" Inuyasha asked in wonder. He had never had any such person in his life to fulfil such a role.
"I am."
"So… um… can you really uproot yourself like you said you would if I wasn't treated well…?" Inuyasha asked, casting a playful sideway glance at his brother, whose face revealed no emotion in reaction to the threat he was now hearing about.
"I can," Bokusen'o said. "It is of course in my nature to remain rooted to the soil – it is my natural habitat, and we tree demons prefer not to move if we can help it. However, in times of extreme necessity, we are quite capable of getting up and moving off, and swinging a few branches about. I would have stood with your father against his enemies, but the truth was that I would have been clumsy at best by his side, and I think he knew it, for he ordered me to remain safe and alive for as long as I could, to give guidance to his children – if they would listen."
"Why didn't you speak to me like this when I first met you?" Inuyasha asked.
"Look at the way you reacted when I did," Bokusen'o replied. "Had you not been in your brother's presence when I first spoke to you in this manner, you would most likely have been startled enough to kick me right over. Your brother is as cool as a stream in early spring, but you are as jumpy as your father was when he was a slip of a boy."
"Well, no one ever expects a tree to pop a face out of its trunk!" Inuyasha retorted, reddening slightly.
"My point exactly."
"Hmmph," Inuyasha mumbled, tucking his hands awkwardly into his sleeves and turning away a little to hide his embarrassment at having started so when the tree spoke.
Sesshomaru looked at him, moved again by his unguarded, childlike behaviour, so unlike his own cold, studied responses to the world at large.
And the tree looked at them both and thought: Together at last, but such a long distance still to travel…
~ - ~
Hours later, he longed to give Inuyasha a goodnight kiss, but there was no possibility of that being an acceptable act while things were the way they still were, with both of them inching carefully around the invisible new space they were creating between themselves.
Sesshomaru, who could command almost anything to be done within his kingdom, felt powerless, knowing that he could not order affection and desire as he might order obedience and compliant behaviour. He could only hope that the space they were creating would become a private refuge that they could both freely enter in the future, and that it would not mould itself instead into a no-man's-land, an impassable barrier between their two individual worlds.
"Sleep well," was all he said to his brother after walking him to his room door when they had finished a very late dinner after a long day spent in the forest, talking to Bokusen'o.
"You too," Inuyasha answered carefully while his wide golden eyes searched his brother for any tell-tale signs of lust that would give him a reason to withdraw into himself again, or demand that he be allowed to leave the castle at once.
Seeing nothing to trouble him, the prince opened his room door and closed it behind him, leaving Sesshomaru to walk the short stretch of corridor to his own room and shut himself in with his unexpressed yearnings.
- 17
- 18
- 19
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The Tale of the Demon Lord